When Bill Henry was an 8th grader, he thought he wanted to be a priest and enrolled at Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary.
"By the end of my sophomore year, it was quite apparent to all parties I wasn't priestly material," Henry said. So he transferred to Mendel Catholic High School, also on the South Side, where students were assigned to homerooms by their grade point averages.
"At Quigley, I'd been in honors classes," Henry said. "But my honors credit didn't transfer, which made my Mendel grade point average artificially lower. I ended up in the second-lowest homeroom. I remember thinking that all the guys in my homeroom were tough guys or wise guys or worse."
Surviving the move taught Henry how to succeed in business, he said.
"The Quigley experience taught me to make sure I really wanted something, before pursuing it," Henry said. "If it's not right, what's the point? The silver lining was Mendel helped me relate to people at more levels. The guys in my homeroom turned out to be great guys."
Now 54, Henry is chief financial and operating officer of Niles-based Affy Tapple, maker of "the" original caramel apple and Mrs. Prindable's gourmet gifts.
